An analog robot is a type of
robot
A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may be c ...
which uses
analog circuit
Analogue electronics ( en-US, analog electronics) are electronic systems with a continuously variable signal, in contrast to digital electronics where signals usually take only two levels. The term "analogue" describes the proportional relati ...
ry to go toward a simple goal such as finding more light or responding to sound. The first real analog robot was invented in the 1940s by
William Grey Walter
William Grey Walter (February 19, 1910 – May 6, 1977) was an American-born British neurophysiologist, cybernetician and robotician.
Early life and education
Walter was born in Kansas City, Missouri, United States, on 19 February 1910, the on ...
. The name of these robots were
ELSIE and
ELMER
Elmer is a name of Germanic British origin. The given name originated as a surname, a medieval variant of the given name Aylmer, derived from Old English ''æþel'' (noble) and ''mær'' (famous). It was adopted as a given name in the United State ...
(Electro Mechanical Robot). The original circuitry was developed using two vacuum tubes and a photocell to search and follow a light. Recently a kind of analog robots was developed by
Mark Tilden
Mark W. Tilden is a robotics physicist who produces complex robotic movements from simple analog logic circuits, often with discrete electronic components, and usually without a microprocessor. He is controversial because of his libertarian Tilden ...
.
Some modern analog robots are
BEAM robots.
Braitenberg Vehicles
A Braitenberg vehicle is a concept conceived in a thought experiment by the Italian-Austrian cyberneticist Valentino Braitenberg. The book models the animal world in a minimalistic and constructive way, from simple reactive behaviours (like photota ...
(described by
Valentino Braitenberg
Valentino Braitenberg (or ''Valentin von Braitenberg''; 18 June 1926 – 9 September 2011) was an Italian neuroscientist and cyberneticist. He was former director at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tübingen, Germany.
His ...
) also are frequently analog, consisting of the output of sensors connected to motors without any form of signal processing.
See Also
*
Analog computer
An analog computer or analogue computer is a type of computer that uses the continuous variation aspect of physical phenomena such as electrical, mechanical, or hydraulic quantities (''analog signals'') to model the problem being solved. In c ...
External links
BEAM community– A specific type of analog robot.
KHM– Robots in academia.
– A research report.
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1940s in robotics
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